Michelle et son rôle :
Stephen Frears remarqua Michelle dans Veuve mais pas trop... et fut immédiatement séduit. Il n'eut pas peur de confier un rôle classique à une vraie californienne mais au contraire il trouvait intéressant de faire jouer le rôle de Madame de Tourvel par un actrice purement hollywoodienne face à John Malkovich et Glenn Close dont la formation est plus classique. Pour lui, cela renforçait le contraste entre les deux mondes fréquentés par ses protagonistes : la pureté et la fidélité pour Mme de Tourvel et la débauche et la luxure pour Valmont et Merteuil.
Le rôle de Madame de Tourvel valut à Michelle sa première nomination aux Oscars
Subject: Woman as brilliant as machiavelic, the Marchioness of Merteuil takes pleasure in her world of intrigues and handling. Bound with the Viscount of Valmont by a pact "of inviolable friendship", it asks him to allure Cécile de Volanges, a young virgin coldly left the convent and in love with the Knight with Danceny. Hoping to regain the favours of the Marchioness, Valmont is carried out without much difficulty. But it then proposes to allure very faithful and very prudish Madam de Tourvel... [ f=#ff0033]Michelle and its role: Stephen Frears noticed Michelle in Veuve but not too... and was immediately allured. It was not afraid to entrust a traditional role to true Californian but on the contrary it found interesting to make play the part of Madam de Tourvel by a purely Hollywood actress vis-a-vis in John Malkovich and Glenn Close whose formation is more traditional. For him, that reinforced contrast between the two worlds attended by its protagonists: purity and fidelity for Mrs. de Tourvel and vice and lust for Valmont and Merteuil. The role of Madam de Tourvel was worth in Michelle its first nomination with the Oscars